


Countergambit

by Jetainia



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Blanket Permission, King Geralt, Multi, Podfic Welcome, Quest: King's Gambit (The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:22:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29425953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jetainia/pseuds/Jetainia
Summary: Witchers fought for coin, everyone knew that. Even the Witchers knew that, it was their code after all. Apparently the jarls of Skellige did not know that.
Relationships: Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg/Cerys an Craite
Kudos: 3





	Countergambit

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished this quest and was half convinced that Geralt would be king by the end of it. He wasn't, so I wrote it happening instead because I grew attached to the idea while playing.

Geralt had never intended to be king, had certainly not planned on that outcome when he had helped an Craite’s children. For fucks sake, he’d even given Hjalmar the glory for slaying the giant (thus prompting the boy to boast of said title despite the fact he had done almost nothing beyond be in the right place to slit the giant’s stomach while Geralt attacked him from above). He’d merely been helping an old friend keep his children safe. He knew the worries a parent faced and Crach’s children were intentionally seeking out danger to prove themselves worthy of ruling over Skellige and her jarls.

He remembered the first hunt Ciri had gone on without him there beside her and how terrified he’d been. Eskel had sat with him on the walls of Kaer Morhen and plied him with copious amounts of alcohol to stop him running after his daughter. Lambert—the bastard—had trailed Ciri at a distance that would make the hunt all hers but still be near enough should she need help and hadn’t told Geralt who would have greatly appreciated the comfort. He’d only discovered Lambert had followed her when she’d gone to get cleaned up after she returned victorious and the other Witcher had emerged from the trees and recounted the fight while bursting with pride (and claiming he’d been the sole reason she fought so well).

Now, Geralt stood on a random hill in Skellige near Kaer Trolde and wondering how helping two warriors on their quests had resulted in him being made king. He was a Witcher, he travelled the Continent and took contracts on monsters, he didn’t command a bunch of unruly and bloodthirsty jarls.

“Brooding again, Wolf?” asked a cheerful voice behind him and he could feel his lips forming a smile without meaning for them to.

Cerys came to a stop next to him and nudged his shoulder with hers. “Still can’t wrap my head around it,” he grunted in response to her spoken and silent questions. “I’m not a king.”

“Ah but you are,” Cerys pointed out. She picked up the crown he had set on a convenient rock nearby and wiggled it in his view. “Crowned and everything.”

“Crown means nothing if the head it rests on doesn’t know what to do with it.”

“Well that’s why you have me then, isn’t it? And Yen. I know Skellige and its people, Yen knows fancy courts and kings. Besides, this is Skellige; if you can fight, you’re worthy of being king.” She moved to stand in front of him and placed the crown lightly on his head, pecking his lips softly on her way. “You’ll be a fine king, Geralt, even when you’re out there chasing sirens and wraiths. Probably especially then.”

Geralt pulled her in for longer kiss, thankful that she was there. He had no idea what he’d done to deserve two women who loved him and stood by him, what he’d done to deserve Dandelion as his best friend. Zoltan, Crach, Triss, Keira, Roche, he had so many friends who would help him with only the barest masquerade of equivalent exchange. And he’d help them in return. Witchers walked lonely paths; they walked the Path alone, with only their brothers as companions and even then only in the darkest months of winter. Now here was Geralt, the most famous Witcher of them all thanks to Dandelion, surrounded by friends, loved by Cerys and Yennefer both, King of Skellige.

He looked over the landscape in front of him, feeling the heavy weight of the crown on his head and smiled. Cerys leaned into him, circling his waist with strong arms that would catch him if he faltered in this new world of his. After an unknown amount of time a portal opened behind them and Yennefer silently joined the duo on Geralt’s other side—back from arguing with Ermion. With the two of them by his side, the crown didn’t feel so heavy anymore.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Countergambit](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29855472) by [Chantress](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chantress/pseuds/Chantress)




End file.
